Archives: 12-back

Taking Interest.

Taking Interest. (Vintage Luke Skywalker, POTF2 Sandtrooper, Vintage Hammerhead)

Taking Interest. (Vintage Luke Skywalker, POTF2 Sandtrooper, Vintage Hammerhead)


If you’ve been keeping score for a while, you’ll recognize that this comes just a moment or two before this.

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Protocol.

Protocol. (Vintage A-Wing Pilot, Vintage General Madine, Vintage C-3PO, Vintage B-Wing Pilot)

Protocol. (Vintage A-Wing Pilot, Vintage General Madine, Vintage C-3PO, Vintage B-Wing Pilot)

From the very first, the vintage 12-back C-3PO was an action figure that needed no improvement. Lavish gold paint, a near-perfect sculpt… Kenner hooked up the kids in ’78 for real.

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Chewbacca Unleashed.

Chewbacca Unleashed. (Vintage Chewbacca, Vintage Stormtroopers)

Chewbacca Unleashed. (Vintage Chewbacca, Vintage Stormtroopers)

Today I used my wife’s piece-of-crap camera instead of my usual piece-of-crap camera. I’m happy to report that hers (a 3-year old Sony Cybershot) puts mine (a 4-year old Olympus 710) to shame. With just one set up I can already see big differences. First, the Sony has a much better auto focus mechanism, grabbing clear focus even for a ridiculously close subject like Chewie here. The Olympus gives up on the extreme close-ups. Second and more importantly, the Sony’s light sensor is much more responsive than the Olympus. With the Sony I’m seeing great color and contrast, even with my hacky LED lights doing their best to blow out the picture. True this isn’t exactly cause for a ticker-tape parade, but I think the quality of my exposures (and the time needed to arrive at them) just improved by a long shot without me having to spend a dime. Here’s to small victories.

Even better, I think this is the first Chewbacca shot that I’m actually pretty psyched about.

Buying Notes on the Vintage Stormtrooper

Check out the current vintage Stormtrooper listings here.

The vintage Stormtrooper is among the most iconic of the vintage Kenner figures. The good news is they’re plentiful and you can pull a gorgeous, like-new one off the auction table for not much dough. Certainly no more than $15 delivered. But you’ve got to be a bit careful as you go.

First it’s common to see reproduction accessories. The vintage Stormie came with a beautiful little imperial blaster that helped him shoot up jawas and rebels alike. But small and fun often equals small and lost. Enter the repro accessory makers and with them a lot of confusion on how to keep things straight. How to tell? Thanks to the good guys over at Imperial Gunnery, this is a nut easily cracked. Check out their awesome guide first before you buy something your unsure of.

Second, take a good look at the photos to spot yellowing. The vintage figures molded in white plastic are the ones most prone to a change in color due to plastic degradation. Some are yellowing and some aren’t, just keep a keen eye on what the seller is showing you and ask for more or better photos if its unclear.

And lastly be sure to inquire on whether or not the figure has loose joints or not. Stormtroopers saw a lot of play in their day and the limbs became loose quickly. If this is important to you (it’s important to me) drop the seller a line through the eBay message system before bidding.

Feel free to add any thoughts in the comments and drop me a line if you run into any trouble!

Check out the current vintage Stormtrooper listings here.

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Jawas, Night.

Jawas, Night (Vintage Jawas, Saga Treadwell Droid WED-1016)

Jawas, Night (Vintage Jawas, Saga Treadwell Droid WED-1016)

Although the Jawa action figure was among the original 12 released by Kenner in early 1978, it was a few months or more after the initial wave that he (along with the dynamite ‘Sandpeople’ figure) showed up on my local toy shelves. I can still remember my happy surprise to find that Kenner wasn’t finished making new Star Wars toys! Time would show of course that they were really just getting started.

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Uncut, Scene 194.

Star Wars Uncut, Scene 194. (Vintage Han Solo, Vintage Greedo)

Star Wars Uncut, Scene 194. (Vintage Han Solo, Vintage Greedo)

With Scene 194 in the can, the micro-trilogy of my Star Wars Uncut scenes is now complete! Han Solo and Greedo hammer it out right here. Unlike Scene 18 and Scene 323, this one didn’t have a lot of motion to conquer. Just two dudes talking. So I found myself with time and energy to add some extra flavor by way of a guest appearance as well as a more tricked-out sound design than the previous efforts.

[ If you like what you see don’t be shy about giving the videos a “like” tag on the Vimeo page. Inclusion in the Star Wars Uncut project is vote-based, so the more “likes” I have on each video, the better chance they’ll make it into the final cut. Thanks, and enjoy! ]

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Uncut, Scene 323.

Star Wars Uncut, Scene 323. (Vintage Stormtroopers, Saga Stormtroopers, Vintage C-3PO, Vintage R2-D2)

Star Wars Uncut, Scene 323. (Vintage Stormtroopers, Saga Stormtroopers, Vintage C-3PO, Vintage R2-D2)

Ready to roll on stop motion animating scene 323 for the Star Wars Uncut project. This one looks to be tougher than the first. And I’ll be straight up with you, that one was a bitch.

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Leia Shot First.

Leia Shot First. (Star Wars Uncut Scene 018, frame 131 ~ Vintage Princess Leia)

Leia Shot First. (Star Wars Uncut Scene 018, frame 131 ~ Vintage Princess Leia)

OK, I guess announcing a hiatus was premature since I find myself compelled to post cool frames from my stop motion animations. This one’s from the completed Scene 018.

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